Focused Compliance and Educational Quality Inspection Reports for Schools with Residential Provision
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Focused Compliance and Educational Quality Inspection Reports For Schools with Residential Provision Dean Close School March 2019 Contents 2 Contents Contents 2 School’s Details 3 1. Background Information 4 About the school 4 What the school seeks to do 4 About the pupils 4 2. Regulatory Compliance Inspection 5 Preface 5 Key findings 7 PART 1 – Quality of education provided 7 PART 2 – Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils 7 PART 3 – Welfare, health and safety of pupils 7 PART 4 – Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors 8 PART 5 – Premises of and accommodation at schools 8 PART 6 – Provision of information 8 PART 7 – Manner in which complaints are handled 9 PART 8 – Quality of leadership in and management of schools 9 3. Educational Quality Inspection 10 Preface 10 Key findings 11 Recommendation 11 The quality of pupils’ academic and other achievements 11 The quality of the pupils’ personal development 14 4. Inspection Evidence 17 © Independent Schools Inspectorate 2019 Dean Close School – March 2019 School’s Details 3 School’s Details School Dean Close School DfE number 916/6035 Registered charity number 1086829 Address Dean Close School Shelburne Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6HE Telephone number 01242 258000 Email address [email protected] Headmaster Mr Bradley Salisbury Chair of governors Mrs Kathryn Carden Age range 12 to 19 Number of pupils on roll 475 Boys 260 Girls 215 Day pupils 208 Boarders 267 Seniors 280 Sixth Form 195 Inspection dates 19 to 21 March 2019 © Independent Schools Inspectorate 2019 Dean Close School – March 2019 Background Information 4 1. Background Information About the school 1.1 Dean Close School is a co-educational day and boarding school for pupils aged between 13 and 18 years. The school was founded in 1886 as a boys’ boarding school and became fully coeducational in 1972. The school, along with three other schools and five nurseries, forms the Dean Close Foundation, which is a registered charity governed by a board of trustees. 1.2 The school is located on 50 acres of parkland near the centre of Cheltenham which it shares with its preparatory and pre-preparatory schools. Boarders are accommodated in six single-sex boarding houses including two for sixth-form pupils. 1.3 Since the previous inspection, a 2-week timetable has been introduced and the curriculum has been reviewed. What the school seeks to do 1.4 In keeping with its Evangelical Christian foundation, the school seeks to provide an environment where each individual’s qualities, interests and potential are respected and encouraged. It holds community, respect for others, relationship and service at the heart of its ethos. The school aims to provide every pupil with a well-rounded education and encourages independent thinking and the self-confidence to challenge the status quo. About the pupils 1.5 Pupils come predominantly from professional and business families, with the majority of day pupils living within a 20-mile radius of the school. Boarders come from the UK and from a wide range of countries including Europe, the USA, the Caribbean, Dubai and the Far East. 1.6 The analysis of standardised data provided by the school show that pupils’ ability profile is above average. The school has identified 69 pupils as having special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which include dyslexia and dyspraxia, 38 of whom receive additional specialist help. English is an additional language (EAL) for 111 pupils, 75 of whom receive additional support as required. Data used by the school have identified 31 pupils as being the most able in the school’s population, and they are supported by more challenging lessons, individual tutorials, extension societies and entry into local, regional and national competitions. © Independent Schools Inspectorate 2019 Dean Close School – March 2019 Regulatory Compliance Inspection 5 2. Regulatory Compliance Inspection Preface The registration authority for independent schools is the Department for Education (DfE), which directs inspection according to a specified frequency or at any time where the DfE has particular concerns about a school. The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is the body approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of inspecting schools which are, or whose heads are, in membership of the associations which form the Independent Schools Council (ISC) and reporting on the extent to which they meet the Independent School Standards (‘the standards’) in the Schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014. Accordingly, inspection records whether the school meets each of these standards, which are arranged in eight Parts, each of which is divided into separate paragraphs. Additionally, the inspection reports on the school’s accessibility plan under Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 and the ban on corporal punishment under section 548 of the Education Act 1996. It comments on the progress made by the school in meeting the compliance action points set out in the school’s most recent statutory inspection. This inspection also contains specific judgements on the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools (‘boarding NMS’). It also comments on the progress made by the school in meeting the compliance action points set out in the most recent statutory boarding inspection and it judges the extent to which the school currently meets the boarding NMS. It identifies any standards which the school does not meet and requires action to meet them. Findings are distributed across sections relating to the eight Parts of the standards. All association independent schools will have an inspection within three years from April 2016, in accordance with the Framework and DfE requirements. The inspection may be of COMPLIANCE ONLY or a combined inspection of EDUCATIONAL QUALITY AND COMPLIANCE depending on a number of factors, including findings from their most recent inspection. Schools judged not to meet the standards, including the boarding NMS, may also be subject to a progress monitoring visit before their next routine inspection. The progress monitoring visit will judge whether the school has taken the necessary action to meet any un-met standards identified at their previous inspection. The inspection was also carried out under the arrangements of the ISC Associations for the maintenance and improvement of the quality of their membership. This is a FOCUSED COMPLIANCE INSPECTION which was combined with an inspection of EDUCATIONAL QUALITY, the report of which appears later in this document. The COMPLIANCE inspection reports only on the school’s compliance with the standards, including the boarding NMS. The standards represent minimum requirements and judgements are given either as met or as not met. All schools are required to meet all the standards applicable to them. Where the minimum requirements are not met, this is clearly indicated in the relevant section of the report and the school is required to take the actions specified. In this focused compliance inspection, key regulations and standards have been inspected in detail. These are the regulations on safeguarding; measures to guard against bullying; arrangements for pupils’ health and safety, arrangements to check the suitability of staff; the provision of information to parents; the handling of parents’ complaints; and other related aspects of leadership and management, together with the NMS covering the same areas. The remaining standards and requirements are deemed to continue to be met unless evidence to the contrary has been found. Inspections do not include matters that are outside of the regulatory framework described above, such as: an exhaustive health and safety audit; compliance with data protection requirements; an in-depth examination of the structural condition of the school, its services or other physical features; contractual arrangements with parents; an investigation of the financial viability of the school or its accounting procedures. Inspectors may be aware of individual safeguarding concerns, allegations and complaints as part of the inspection process. Such matters will not usually be referred to specifically in published reports in this document but will have been considered by the team in reaching its judgements. © Independent Schools Inspectorate 2019 Dean Close School – March 2019 Regulatory Compliance Inspection 6 Links to the full regulations and requirements can be found here: The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools. © Independent Schools Inspectorate 2019 Dean Close School – March 2019 Regulatory Compliance Inspection 7 Key findings 2.1 The school meets almost all of the required standards in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools 2015 and associated requirements. In order to meet all the standards, the school should take immediate action to remedy the deficiencies as detailed below. PART 1 – Quality of education provided 2.2 At GCSE in the years 2014 to 2017, performance has been above the national average for maintained schools. 2.3 In the sixth form, A-level results in the years 2014 to 2017 have been above the national average for sixth formers in maintained schools. 2.4 The curriculum is documented, supported by appropriate plans and schemes of work for the pupils and covers the required breadth of material. The teaching enables pupils to make good progress, encompasses